In November 2006, during a leadership crisis within the party, he unexpectedly announced his decision to stand down from this position in December 2006. Schily has been a leading member of the SPD executive board since 2003. In 2009, he replaced Wolfgang Thierse as Secretary General at the SPD's national convention, but resigned after only six months in office, following criticism over his government's handling of a media scandal involving photographer Daniel Arendt.
Schily was born in 1952 in Gelsenkirchen, North Rhine-Westphalia, where his father ran a garage business.
After leaving school Schily initially worked at a company involved in automobile assembly before studying law at University of Cologne from 1973 to 1981. He qualified as a lawyer in 1983 and began working as a civil law notary in Cologne in 1984 before being called to bar two years later by his dean Johann Baptist Gruber. In 1987 Schily began working part-time for a firm involved with international arbitration before being called to bar for an extended period by his dean who thought that Schily should have studied law further before taking up legal practice.
Schily married Antonia Hantke, also a lawyer, in 1985 and they have three children: Franziska (born 1986), Anna (born 1988), and Simon (born 1991).
Together they set up an international law firm which is now one of Germany's largest firms with offices across Europe and Asia.
Schily's career took off when he was appointed secretary-general of the World Organization against Torture at its headquarters in Geneva in 1997; he had previously worked part-time for this organization since 1985. After graduating from university Schily worked for six years for an organization that worked on
